When Lorrie Crisci’s son Alex came out to her as gay at 12 years old, she held him close as he wept in her arms. Her tears came later.

“I remember crying myself to sleep that night, not because he was gay, but because I knew life would be harder for him,” she said.

Lorrie immediately began searching for local support groups online, but came up empty-handed. She found a Naples chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, but the organization was geared toward helping parents accept LGBTQ — or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning — children. Lorrie, who had no trouble embracing her newly out son, was more concerned with how he’d be received in school.

“He had a rough time. People were already asking him if he was gay throughout middle school,” she said. “After he came out, he got really depressed; he didn’t want to go to school anymore. It was frustrating. I just wanted him to feel like he belonged.”

When Alex returned home crying one day after a group of football players called him a derogatory term in gym class, she felt helpless. Though school administrators offered to discipline the offending students, Alex feared retaliation and asked they not be punished.

According to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network 2011 national survey, 60 percent of LGBTQ youths chose not to report incidents of bullying to school authorities, and, of those who did, one-third said staff did nothing.

The same survey also showed that LGBTQ youths who were subjected to frequent harassment in school had lower grades than others who were less often harassed.

And the Human Rights Campaign found nearly half of non heterosexual youths think to be happy they'd have to move away from their hometown.

"A lot of kids, especially in the South, don't understand LGBTQ people," said Ross Ellis, the founder and CEO of Stomp Out Bullying, a decade-old anti-bullying and cyberbullying organization. "A lot of it comes from the adults who pass it on to their children. It's heartbreaking because no matter what your sexual orientation is, you're still a person. No one deserves to be treated differently."

Suicide is also a huge a problem among this demographic, Ellis said. Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are four times more likely than young heterosexuals to commit suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So when a friend told Lorrie about the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, she breathed a sigh of relief. The network is a national organization with 39 local chapters that aim to make schools a safe place for LGBT students. The network's Collier chapter was co-founded last year by Collier County Public School psychologist Jana Csenger.

Jana Csenger, a school psychologist at Collier County Public Schools and the co-chair of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network's Naples chapter, speaks at a GLSEN event at Wells Fargo at the Mercato on Sept. 30, 2016.(Photo11: Annika Hammerschlag)

Csenger had been overseeing a group of students at Golden Gate High School who wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance club, a support network for students of all gender and sexual identities. Like Lorrie, when she began to search for resources to assist the alliance, Csenger couldn’t find any groups in Collier County that provided support to LGBTQ youth.

“It’s a very conservative community,” Csenger said, noting the swath of residents at a June School Board meeting who protested a federal ordinance to allow transgender students to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. “There’s been some issues with name calling and getting people to respect the pronouns of transgender students.”

Carol Manning, of the Republican Executive Committee, was among the residents who spoke out at the June meeting. "We didn't have rules like that growing up; the teachers controlled the classrooms, now the laws," she said.

In addition to being an issue of federal overreach, Keith Flaugh, of the Southwest Florida Citizens Alliance who also spoke at the meeting, argued the policy would have a negative impact on Collier schools. "It's actually taking away the right to privacy of the other 46,000 students," he said.

The Collier school district chose not to adopt President Obama's directive, and thus there is no countywide policy on transgender bathroom use. "In the few instances that issues have arisen, the district has worked with transgender students and parents on a case-by-case basis," Collier schools spokeswoman Jennifer Kupiec said.

In August a federal judge blocked Obama's directive, restoring power to the school districts to decide for themselves how to handle the issue.

In a statement, Collier County Public School Superintendent Kamela Patton stressed that “the District is committed to making its schools safe for all students and staff including LGBTQ students and staff.” She cited District Policies 3362 and 5517, which prohibit discrimination and harassment based on “race, color, sex (including sexual orientation and/or gender identity), age, religion (including religious beliefs), disability, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, pregnancy, political affiliation, and/or marital status.”

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network said that largely due to its efforts, the policies were amended in October 2015 to include the terms sexual orientation and gender identity. Even so, the district has yet to write official guidelines to address transgender issues.

“Most of the schools in Collier County do a good job of being a safe place for LGBTQ kids, but especially when it comes to pronouns, the district lacks a consistent policy across all schools,” Csenger said.

GLSEN spokeswoman Kari Hudnell stressed that “having anti-bullying policies that specifically cover LGBTQ students really allows them to have better outcomes in school and improves campus climate.” She encourages local school districts to make use of GLSEN’s policy templates to help inform their own.

GLSEN’s Collier chapter meets the second Monday of each month at the Naples United Church of Christ on Crayton Road. GLSEN board member Pastor Dawson Taylor, who identifies as gay, has been hosting the meetings since the chapter’s inception last year. He said he recognizes how difficult it can be for people to reconcile their faith and sexuality and is proud of his congregation for welcoming people of all sexual orientations.

"We’re a congregation that doesn’t check its brain at the door. God made us intelligent beings for a reason," he said.

Taylor said that while many of his colleagues disagree with his interpretation of the Scripture, he's impressed with how the district has handled these issues. The most important thing he feels he can do as a religious leader, he said, is to provide a safe space for students of all sexual and gender orientations to speak freely.

“Your heart breaks when you hear young people talk about their struggles with sexuality, but I also hear a lot of stories of hope,” he said. “Young people today have great allies and great resources. They can find support to be who they are and be who God created them to be.”

The GLSEN Collier chapter has also provided support to a number of Gay-Straight Alliances.

Lorrie's son Alex, now 15, helped launch Barron Collier High School’s first alliance. He said the memory of how he felt when he first came out, the isolation and vulnerability, inspired him to get involved.

“It’s hard to come to terms with your sexual identity at such a young age, especially in a place that’s perceived to be very close-minded and judgmental,” he said. “I didn’t want other people to feel the way I did at the beginning.”

Six Collier schools now have active Alliances, many of which operate with the help of GLSEN.

“We will continue to build bridges and maintain our presence so young people know our schools are safe spaces where they can learn and participate fully,” Pastor Taylor said. “Until then, GLSEN will be here.”

This story has been updated to reflect that GLSEN’s Collier chapter meets the second Monday of each month.

McKenzie Carr, 17, gives her friend Alex Crisci, who identifies as gay, two thumbs up as he makes a speech at a Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network event at Wells Fargo at the Mercato on Sept. 30, 2016. Carr co-founded a Gay-Straight Alliance group with Crisci at Barron Collier High School.(Photo11: Annika Hammerschlag)